Kantika

By: Elizabeth Graver

Narrated by: Gail Shalan

Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

A kaleidoscopic portrait of one family’s displacement across four countries, Kantika—“song” in Ladino—follows the joys and losses of Rebecca Cohen, feisty daughter of the Sephardic elite of early 20th-century Istanbul. When the Cohens lose their wealth and are forced to move to Barcelona and start anew, Rebecca fashions a life and self from what comes her way—a failed marriage, the need to earn a living, but also passion, pleasure, and motherhood. Moving from Spain to Cuba to New York for an arranged second marriage, she faces her greatest challenge—her disabled stepdaughter, Luna, whose feistiness equals her own and whose challenges pit new family against old.

Exploring identity, place, and exile, Kantika also reveals how the female body—in work, art, and love—serves as a site of both suffering and joy. A haunting, inspiring meditation on the tenacity of women, this lush, lyrical novel from Elizabeth Graver celebrates the insistence on seizing beauty and grabbing hold of one’s one and only life.

©2023 Elizabeth Graver (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Outstanding performance of a beautiful book

The performer is to be complemented for her performance,, which enhances the author's writing. Highly recommended.

Reminds me of Chaim Potok

I loved the cultural aspects and the character building. The story takes off when Luna enters the narrative and “sings.” Beautifully written. I prefer a little more action and stronger emphasis on plot, but the story is a good one and the final chapters do reach a satisfying climax. Well done. Very much worth the time and effort. The use of French, Spanish, etc., were masterful and the reader didn’t miss a beat. Virtuoso performance. It has been a while since I read Potok, but the cultural milieu put me very much in mind of his writing.

Beautiful story. Excellent narration.

Beautiful story. Excellent narration. Kantika follows multiple generations and weaves in Jewish culture, immigration, and beauty.

A beautiful family story

Well narrated and sung. I enjoyed every moment, though it’s not my family’s story, it’s so lovely, it will be enjoyed by all.

The (usually) untold portion of contemporary Jewish history.

This is a very workmen, like tale of the Jews of the “Levant”.
In so far as Jewish history is studied at all, we usually learn about the Roman conquest of Judea, the exile to Europe, the spread of Jews throughout Europe, the discrimination, settlements, ghettos, banishment, and so on - usually culminating in the atrocities of the Holocaust. What is rarely taught or even mentioned are the Jews of the so-called ‘Lavant’. i.e., Iraq, Iran, Syria, the Iberian, peninsula, Greece and North Africa. These are the “Sefardim” - Jews, who were banished from Spain and Portugal in 1492 - together with the entire Muslim population of those countries.

Since Islam had a place for Jews and Christians these people could live and prosper throughout North Africa and the Middle East. Spain became as a distant memory of oppression. These Jews spoke Arabic and the local languages but also maintain themselves among the Christians and Muslims of the Levant as a separate population, speaking Ladino - which is a medieval form of Spanish and Hebrew. (Much as Europeans spoke Yiddish-
a mixture of Hebrew and medieval German.). These Jews retained their religion, common biblical and rabbinical roots with their EuropeanJewish cousins. However, they also acquired the culture of the Lavant. They blended and adopted the cultureal traditions of their neighbors.
After WWII, in the early 50s, they were thrown out and expelled from Muslim countries (a fate shared by many Christians of the Levant) .
This book is written in a very personal and interesting style. It is easy to follow and interesting in its details. This is not a great work of literature. It reads more like an act of reporting. Interesting facts, but no character invention or development.
The narration is somewhat breathy and overly feminized. The narrator has a very good grasp of Spanish but unfortunately not of Hebrew, I would give this book a solid ‘C’. It is pleasant and interesting and worthwhile reading as History. I don’t think it is fantastic literature. Learn from it and enjoy yourself while you’re doing so.

movingly human and convincing

this story captures a personal story, interwoven with intimate family drama and historical context. never didactic or judgy. for those like me interested in Modern Jewish history and World War II, this is a refreshing variation. I learned so much about the Sephardic, Latino experience. mostly, however, I was entertained. what a fantastic performance by the narrator, too!

Very disappointing

While the story was interesting, I never really connected with any of the characters. But my biggest complaint is with the performance. I found the narration so annoying that it was a real distraction. I’m glad I made it through but plan to avoid this narrator in the future.

Journey to Safety

I Loved the reader & her singing is beautiful. The story held my interest all through the book. I fell in love with Rebecca for her loving, nurturing, and resilient qualities - she is a wonderful role model.
Wonderful to learn about the Sephardic Jewish culture. So sad to once again read of the world’s antisemitism, which doesn’t seem to ever end.

Fabulous book group read

Our book group loved Kantika and found it provoked excellent discussions. The author’s interweaving of family history, research and fiction was artful and created a vibrance to the story with lots of layers to discuss. The experience of migration and otherness touched us all. It was intriguing to see Sephardic life close up when most of us were more familiar with Ashkenazy culture. A poignant feast that sparked fun discussions!

Learning about the Ladino Jewish culture in early 1900s

Fair story, definitely not suspenseful. Learned about Ladino Jewish family life in Spain and US in early 1900 to 1945.